San Michele in Bosco

San Michele in Bosco is a religious complex in Bologna, central Italy, including the church with the same name and the annexed Olivetan monastery.

Located on a hill not far from the city's historical center, the area housed monastic structures as early as the 4th century AD.

As was typical for shrines on remote sites or mountain tops, it was dedicated to the Archangel Michael.

Olivetan monks may have played a role in the monastery by the mid 14th-century, however the fortunes of the site were adverse.

Only after almost two centuries of much neglect, in 1564 the papal legate Cardinal Androvino della Rocca, formally consigned the monastery to the order of Monte Oliveto.

It has an octagonal cloister, which was frescoed with the Lives of St Benedict and the protomartyrs Cecilia, Tiburzio and Valerian, interspersed with monochrome telamons,[5] by Ludovico Carracci and his studio.

Interior of the church. Photo by Paolo Monti , 1973.
The complex in a 1954 postcard.
The Asinelli Tower seen from one end of the long corridor of the monastery, appearing enlarged due to the effect of the Vista paradox .